Tiler

Tiling's make-or-break is waterproofing — get a wet area wrong against AS 3740 and the fix is a full strip-and-redo that can wipe months of profit. Plus the "can I legally tile this?" licence question and the waterproofing certificate. Here is the year-one reality.‍‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‍

"Can I legally tile this?" — qualification and licensing

The core qualification is the CPC31320 Certificate III in Wall and Floor Tiling, and the licence depends on the value and scope by state (labour + materials, incl GST):

NSW — a wall/floor tiling contractor licence for a job over $5,000.
QLD — a QBCC wall/floor tiling licence over $3,300.
VIC — a Domestic Builder–Limited (VBA) for tiling within a bathroom, kitchen or laundry reno, but pure tiling alone is carved out of the major-domestic-building-contract regime and can be done without a major contract when it is only tiling and under $10,000.
WA — tiling is not a separately licensed trade (only builders, sparkies, plumbers and painters are).
SA — a CBS Building Work Contractor licence for building work; ACT/NT/TAS — no specific tiling licence (you may work under or as a licensed builder for broader renos).

The practical rule: under the threshold and working only as a tiler, you can often trade on your ABN; package tiling into a full reno scope and you fall into builder licensing (see the licensing section).

Waterproofing — the make-or-break, to AS 3740

Waterproofing is the part that destroys careless tilers. It is regulated as construction waterproofing (reference CPC314 Certificate III in Construction Waterproofing, especially in QLD), and a first-year tiler usually either subcontracts a licensed waterproofer for high-risk bathrooms or upskills and works under a builder who takes the certification responsibility. The standard is AS 3740:2021 (with NCC 2022) — in plain English:

Risk categories: showers and areas within reach of a handheld shower are Category 1 (high), needing the most extensive waterproofing and falls.
Shower walls fully waterproofed on the water-resistant lining to a minimum 1800mm above the finished floor (or 50mm above the rose, whichever is higher).
Falls to the floor waste between 1:80 (minimum) and 1:50 (maximum) — and the membrane below the tiles graded too, not flat.
Minimum upturns at hobs, wall/floor junctions and penetrations, the right substrate prep and a compatible system at the correct thickness, with DFT testing or a 24-hour water test as QA.

The certificate matters: internal waterproofing is building work, so a building surveyor inspects before the tiles go down where a permit exists, and the waterproofer issues a compliance certificate (in VIC there is no occupancy cert without it). Without a certificate, a later leak means the owner and insurer pursue the tiler or builder, the fix is a full gut and re-waterproof (thousands), and finish warranties can be voided. (Standards detail: Construction Standards Register.)

Starter kit

Own day one: notched and margin trowels, levels and straight edges, layout gear (laser, chalk line), spacers and levelling clips, an angle grinder with tile and diamond blades, a mixing drill and paddle, hole saws, tile nippers, and a mid-range wet-cut saw for bathrooms and splashbacks — a starter kit of a few thousand dollars. Hire as needed: a heavy-duty bridge or large-format saw (big porcelain, stone), dust extraction for large grinding, handling gear for XXL panels, and scaffolds for short runs. See Tooling Up.

Rates, income and the tax sting

Indicative 2025: $45-150/m² (labour alone ~$35/m² straightforward), or $40-120/hr (~$320-960/day, mid $600-800). Benchmarks: bathroom floor ~$50-120/m², shower ~$60-150/m² (extra detailing and waterproofing), wall ~$40-100/m², waterproofing ~$30-60/m² on top. A small bathroom is ~$800-2,500 labour, a large one $3,000-8,000. The first year is lumpy — some weeks 4-5 billed days, others a single bathroom. The tax sting is the usual one: tax on profit not turnover, PAYG instalments hitting year 2, self-funded super, and GST over $75k — so the cash in the account is nowhere near your real take-home. Your first six months are about survival, learning and not under-quoting — not headline income (see Setting Your Charge-Out Rate).

Common mistakes

Under-running the shower-wall membrane (below 1800mm) or falls outside 1:80-1:50 → leaks, ponding and a full re-do.
Tiling over a flexible or damp substrate with no movement joints → cracking and drummy tiles.
Wrong adhesive or grout for the environment (non-flexible adhesive on timber, unsuitable grout in wet areas).
No waterproofing certificate or QA test — which leaves you carrying the rectification and legal cost when it leaks.

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